SEPTEMBER 11, 2016

By Naresh Minocha, Our Consulting Editor

"WE the people of Jammu, Kashmir & Ladakh, in order to unite ourselves in an atmosphere of Equality and Liberty and to lift ourselves and our children for ever from the abyss of oppression, poverty, degradation, ignorance and superstition to a life of freedom with a scientific temper and to fulfil the historic task of making the state of Jammu & Kashmir the shining crown on the forehead of the Republic of India, do hereby adopt and solemnly pledge this Socio Political and Economic manifesto," says 'Naya Kashmir' a manifesto adopted by National Conference way back in 1944.

This vision is articulated by Constitution of the J&K, the only State to have its own Constitution. Adopted in November 1956, it says: "The State of Jammu and Kashmir is and shall be an integral part of the Union of India."

How is that Kashmir swung from scientific temper and Indian Identity to naked love for Pakistan, which organized mass rape & man slaughter in J&K during October 1947?

How has graffiti –‘India go back' in the Valley become trademark of separatism? Why masked youth take pride in waving flags of Pakistan and Islamic State? Such people perhaps harbour the notion that they can break away J&K from India in Talaq, Talaq, Talaq mode.

They believe that break-away on the lines of Bangladesh is possible. This idea has been fuelled by Pakistan and sustained by Valley's popular politicians who resemble two-headed snakes. This is the Kashmir Problem. And this is what has saved Pakistan from self-destruction .

"This problem is a difficult, intricate problem, and no amount of eloquent speeches by me or by the hon. member opposite will solve the problem, It may influence us for a while,"stated Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru while responding to Kashmir problem raised by BJP member in Lok Sabha on 26th June 1952.

India has been groping for patch-work solution to this secessionist problem aggravated by abuse of Article 370. This has reduced the Valley to a ghetto for insular Muslims. They have killed prospects for transforming Kashmir into a wealth-generating lovable Valley that would rival Switzerland.

Thousands of crores of money has been spent on pampering and protection of Kashmiris. If the same money was invested on education and healthcare of nationalist Muslims of the rest of India, the country would have become a multi-facet superpower.

Such background has to be the starting point for defining Kashmir problem rationally and listing options to resolve them. The problem should be seen through kaleidoscope of cycles of violence that have rocked Kashmir Valley since the fifties. The Muslims' propensity for separatism across the world has to be kept in view while searching for solution.

The vocal & violent section of Kashmiri Muslims' obsession for Pakistan bloomed fully in 1979, when they looted and insulted Christian community to protest against hanging of Pakistan ex-PM Z. A. Bhutto. The mob even destroyed Srinagar's most beautiful Church, the Saints' Church. Was Bhutto's execution by Pakistan Government an early sign of the Kashmir problem?

The post-Bhutto survey of partly burnt Srinagar by the then Union Home Minister H.M Patel forms a perfect link to latest bout of violence following encounter death of Pak-funded Terrorist Burhan Wani.

Mr. Patel told Parliament on 3rd May 1979 : "In Srinagar town, I saw the various buildings which had been completely or virtually gutted namely, the Srinagar Club, the office of the United Nations, the Military Observer's camp, the residence of the Director of Doordarshan next door, and also the Church and the buildings in its compound. These had been apparently selected as the targets of attack and arson by the mob."

He added: "valuable time was lost in getting together requisite additional police force and units of the Border security Force as well as the Army."

The continued enforcement of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 (AFSPA) and/or AFSPA (J&K) 1990 ought to be appreciated against the backdrop of such barbarism. So should be the extremely restrained use of pellet guns by security forces in self-defence and for protection of silent majority of citizens.

The attack on Christians was inspired by a similar violence that was inflicted by Pak tribals during 1947. It is pertinent to recount what Mr. Nehru stated in Parliament during a debate on Kashmir on 5 th August 1952. He recalled: "They (Pak invaders) had sacked the biggish township of Baramula. They set fire to the Convent there and killed the foreign missionaries—sisters, nuns, etc—in a brutal way."

The 1979 attack on Christians was not an isolated post-accession incident. Holy Family Catholic Church in Srinagar was attacked twice in 2012. According to a Times of India story published in January 2012, Kashmir's Mufti Bashir-ud-Din, head of self-styled Sharia court, had announced a fatwa against Christian schools in the valley.

Like Christians, all other minorities have also borne the brunt of pro-Pakistan Muslims in Kashmir Valley. Kashmiri Pandits have been hounded out in the same way as Jews were by Nazis.

Participating in the J&K Assembly debate on report of State Autonomy Committee during April 2000, Hans Raj Dogra stated : "the education you gave the people from 1947 onwards changed the whole atmosphere. In 1983 when Smt. Indira Gandhi came here, the Kashmiri people demonstrated before her and in 1986 as many as 400 temples were set ablaze which shows how far the Kashmiri people were free to go to any extreme."

Thus, was the peaceful co-existence of Kashmir Pandits and Sikhs in the Valley a major cause for Kashmir Problem? Is the proposal to bring them back to the Valley not a major cause of the latest cycle of violence?

Was the theft of Holy relic of Prophet Mohammed kept in the Hazratbal shrine during 1966 and the resulting orgy of violence another manifestation of Kashmir problem?

Was the bloodbath in Kashmir Valley during September 2010 following wrong reporting by an Iranian TV of alleged cases of burning of Quaran in the U.S. a reflection of Kashmir Problem?

As put by a Indian Express news story, "In the volatile Kashmir Valley, where curfew was imposed for the second consecutive day in major towns, three people were killed in the fallout of the protests and several people injured. Violent mobs torched a Christian missionary school in north Kashmir's Tangmarg town as well as several Government offices."

Is TV channels-fuelled pelting of stones on security forces after every Friday Id prayers a sign of the Kashmir Problem and kashmiriyat?

Yet another instance of violence in J&K is worth recalling. Admitting that 18 bomb explosions rocked the State during March-October 1963, the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, told Parliament: "Available evidence leads to the conclusion that Pakistan saboteurs or their agents were responsible for all these explosions."

It is interesting to note that no explosion rocked the Valley when Pakistan gave a large chunk of Pak-occupied Kashmir area to China in 1962. It is no wonder then that the then Pakistan Foreign Minister, Z. A. Bhutto, announced in March 1975 that the Chinese Government had invited Sheikh Abdullah to Visit China.

Can such facts be ignored in understanding the worsening of Kashmir Problem and disappearance of kashmiriyat into air?

Pakistan-induced theological deviation of Kashmiri Muslims from Naya Kashmir's idealism is thus central to defining Kashmir problem. It is nothing but mindless violence against Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and national security forces to create yet another Muslim country under the garb of right to self-determination.

Sloganeering for devilish disintegration of India by Kashmiris at JNU earlier this year is the real objective of masterminds of Kashmir problem.

The Key to understanding the Kashmir Problem lies in the fact that both, J&K Maharaja Hari Singh and Kashmir's most popular political party, National Conference (NC), were initially disinterested in merging either with India or Pakistan.

Maharaja-NC's indecisiveness served as a perfect opportunity for Pakistan to first throttle flow of essential goods from its side into J&K. Pakistan backed this initiative by organizing raids by Pak army-aided Pushto tribals on the State during October 1947. When marauding tribals were at the doorstep of Srinagar, Kashmir valley realized its future lies with secular, democratic dominion of India.

Both Maharaja and J&K's most popular NC leader, Sher-I-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah pleaded with Indian Government on 25th/26th October 1947 to save Kashmir from plunder and rape committed by Pak tribals. Both opted for accession of J&K to India without any demand for plebiscite.

Plebiscite idea was a foolish offer unilaterally made by Mr. Nehru. Later, he trashed it through nationalist Muslim stalwart, M.C. Chagla at the United Nations (UN). Internationalizing Kashmir problem was also another big folly of Mr. Nehru. It was his idea to rush to UN as complainant against Pakistan for invasion of J&K and the resulting UN-mandated ceasefire, which enabled Pakistan to retain what is known as Pak-occupied Kashmir (POK).

Mr. Nehru rationalized his blunder in Lok Sabha on 7th August 1952 as: "We may have erred sometimes in the cause of peace, in the cause of avoidance of war, if you like. I want to err in that way always...."

It is obviously such arrogance that led IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha the other day into stating that POK would have been India's had the country persisted with a military solution rather than taking a "moral high ground".

Maharaja, who jailed Mr. Abdullah for raising his voice against his exploitative policies before the Independence, did somersault after Pak tribals' raids on J&K. He banked on Mr. Abdullah for saving the State from crisis and awarded him with the post of Prime Minister of J&K in 1948.

Mr. Nehru identified Maharaja as the root cause of Kashmir problem. He told Lok Sabha on 26 th June 1952: "It is my conviction and an honest conviction that at least 75 to 80 per cent of the troubles of Kashnir today and in the last few years have been due to the amazingly mistaken wrong-headed policy that the Maharaja pursued."

As put by Dr. R.K. Mookerji, a nominated member of Rajya Sabha, in May 1952, "the accession of Kashmir to India was forced upon India. It was not of India's seeking."

Kashmiris should thus be eternally grateful to Indians residing outside J&K. How many separatists know that Indian army jawans laid their life to protect the honour of Kashmiri Muslim women? The separatists, who vie with one and other to get patronage from Pakistan, should know that it wanted to enslave women of J&K. They should ponder what would be the fate of Valley's graceful women if they succeed in their design in degrading J&K as a Pak enclave or appendage? Do they want our Kashmiri sisters & daughters to become doctors, engineers, software developers, etc or suffer as Nth wife of Pak feudal lords or as objects of pleasure for Pak generals?

"The number of women who have been kidnapped and raped makes my heart bleed," cried Maharaja in a Letter dated 26 th October 1947 which he wrote to Lord Mountbatten, Governor General of Indian Dominion, disclosing his belated decision to make J&K a part of India.

Mr. Abdullah confirmed the grave insult inflicted by Pak raiders on womenfolk by stating "Even the nuns and nurses of a Catholic Mission were either killed, or brutally maltreated." He also recalled other brutalities committed by the raiders on people of J&K in his inaugural speech at J&K Constituent Assembly on 5th November 1951.

Mr Nehru echoed Abdullah's pain on this count. On 7th August 1952, he told Lok Sabha: "The women of Kashmir, Hindu and Muslim, in considerable numbers were taken away by these raiders and others, they were spread out way up to Afghanistan and beyond, and sometimes sold for pittance."

Notwithstanding such heinous crimes, Abdul Gani Goni, a member of Constituent Assembly of J&K, had the audacity to demand incorporation of Right of Secession in the draft J&K Constitution during mid-fifties.

Reacting to this demand, Ghulam Mohammad, another member of Constituent Assembly, stated : "At such time Pakistan raided our state; the raiders burned and pillaged village after village and slaughtered people like sheep. Naturally the question arises that when we had to face such a situation then why should anybody insist on having the Right of Secession when there is every danger of that very situation arising again. Our neighbour adopted a course of aggression at the time and we ought to have learned a lesson from this."

The problem is that no Kashmiri Muslim leader has had the courage to articulate the virtue of staying as part of India and shunning woman-enslaver and terror promoter Pakistan. The upshot of this is that Muslim clerics and Pak-funded agents have successfully brain-washed the youth into believing that the mother of all their woes, real and imaginary, is India. They are propagating the myth that the Valley's salvation lies in embracing Pakistan & supporting Islamic State.

It is here relevant to recall how Sher-I-Kashmir, who later aligned with Pakistan, resolved the Kashmir problem way back in November 1951!

Addressing the Constituent Assembly, he posed: "Was Pakistan's action in invading Kashmir in 1947 morally and legally correct judged by any norm of international behaviour? Sir Owen Dixon's verdict on this issue is perfectly plain. In unambiguous term he declared, Pakistan an aggressor. Secondly, was the Maharaja's accession to India legally valid or not? The legality of the accession has not been seriously questioned by any responsible or independent person or authority".

Mr. Abdullah continued: "These two answers are obviously correct. Then where is the justification of treating India and Pakistan at par in matters pertaining to Kashmir”? In fact, the force of logic dictates the conclusion that the aggressor should withdraw his armed forces…."

Instead of toeing Abdullah doctrine, NC and all other Valley-based political parties are pleading for Pakistan's involvement in internal affairs of India, which is what entire J&K is.

As for demand for plebiscite and reverting back to pre-1953 autonomy under Article 370 of the Constitution, both demands are articulated by the ones who back secessionist slogan- Bharat Tere Tukde Honge Insha Allah, Insha Allah .

It is high time the Government categorically articulates the fact India's unilateral offer to hold plebiscite was not honoured by Pakistan in POK and the chapter stood closed forever.

It here pertinent to recall what the then Education Minister M.C. Chagla, stated in February 1964 in his capacity as leader of Indian delegation at UN debate on Kashmir.

He said: "I think that once and for all we have laid the ghost of plebiscite....We also pointed out the terrible political implications if a plebiscite was held."

Principal Devaprasad Ghosh pithily summed up the dangers of plebiscite while participating in debate in Rajya Sabha on 5th August 1952. Mr. Ghosh observed: "The doctrine of self-determination if pushed to these absurd limits will prove to be a veritable atomic bomb calculated to disrupt and disintegrate all possibilities of national solidarity.

As for Article 370, Mr. Chagla stated: "The Prime Minister (Nehru) the other day spoke of the gradual erosion of Article 370 of the Constitution."

Participating in UN's Kashmir debate in Rajya Sabha, Mr. Chagla continued: "I only hope that the erosion is accelerated and I also hope that very soon this Article will disappear from the Constitution of India. After all, it is an Article which is transitional and temporary. I think the transitional period has been long enough."

It is really sad that Indian system has not thrown up many nationalist Muslims like Chagla who are articulate advocates of national unity and sanity. The Government should have groomed a million Chaglas to modernize Muslims especially the ones in Valley who show symptoms of mass hysteria / mass schizophrenia.

There is no reason why a Muslim cast in Chagla mode should not become Prime Minister of India. If J&K Chief Minister Mehmooba's dad, late Mufitji could become India's first Muslim Home Minister, there is no reason why a nationalist Muslim from Valley should not vie to become India's first Muslim Prime Minister. This can only happen if Valley comes out of the frog-in-the-well mode. This can happen only if separatists atone for their sins by embracing ballot and thus win back the trust of all Indians. This can only happen if Kashmir Muslims respect and follow Naya Kashmir.

To make Naya Kashmir a sustainable, robust economy with inclusive growth, Kashmir Muslims must realize three pre-requisites – 1) Peace and trust in Rest of Indians, 2) Allowing sale of land to outsiders at handsome prices to facilitate setting up of tourism projects, which are key to creating jobs for locals and 3) Abrogation of 1960 Indus Water Treaty – a Himalayan blunder that Nehru committed to appease Pakistan. Alternatively, Pakistan should be asked to pay handsome yearly compensation beginning 1960 to Jammu & Kashmir.

The debate over Article 370 should in fact lead to larger debate on pitfalls of carrying on with an archaic constitution. Sixty-seven years is too long a period to live with the constitution. It is being misused by vest interests and short-sighted activists to weaken national unity and to retard economic growth and thus create disharmony.

The Government should thus issue a white paper, expounding the rationale for phase-out of all special provisions for all regions & all people to create one India for all Indians with uniform civil code as icing on National Integration cake.

The security and future of all States and all people lie in marching forward towards national integration. Under this vision, the Government should transform Inter-State Council into a statutory authority. It should meet regularly to sort out contentious matters especially inter-state disputes & its decisions should be binding on both the Union and the States.

The reversion to any compulsions of 1947 era, repeated extension and expansion of reservations and succumbing to violence-enforced demand for reservations would only accelerate India's march towards anarchy and ultimate destruction, which is what India's enemies want.

Reverting back to resolution of Kashmir Problem, the solution lies in use of ‘smart stick' as umpteenth number of carrot in the form of special package for Kashmir have failed to work.

The smart stick in the form of societal and national values should be used by enlightened Muslims from across all professions – Khans of Bollywood, retired Muslim civil servants & judges known for their exemplary conduct, entrepreneurs like Wirpo founder Azim Premji, whose father spurned Pak offer to make him its first finance minister.

Apart from organizing regular visit of such professionals to the Valley, enlightened clerics from mosques and madras in the rest of India should be encouraged to settle there to bring the misguided youth on the track of career development. Such clerics should be given handsome financial support to take up challenging assignment for inculcating Islamic values in the Valley.

If this initiative fails to wean youth from Pak influence, then the Government should not hesitate to enforce laws including emergency enactments, if need be. If all soft remedies fail, it should treat Kashmir problem as cancer and go for most radical treatment including demographic reforms.

To begin with, Modi Government should send a stern message to State Government to pull up its socks. The Centre should also send a clear message to all that it would maintain national integrity and security at all costs. All costs mean all costs.

An advice that Mr. Ghosh gave to Mr Nehru in Parliament during August 1952 debate on Kashmir is equally applicable to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mr. Ghosh stated: "Great responsibilities and chicken hearts go ill together. I would appeal to him, our beloved Prime Minister, to shed chicken-heartedness, to shed the fear complex, to shed all the inhibitions that make for weakness, and be the lion-hearted leader of India once again, dedicated to the cause of India's integrity, unity and glory. All the nationals of India who hold Mother India in veneration will then flock unto his banner, and God will bless him."